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Press Release: NOOD - Cold Winds in St. Petersburg, Florida

Added by damonAdmin on Feb 18, 2007 - 02:08 PM

St. Petersburg, Fla. (February 16, 2007) – On the opening day of the Sperry Top-Sider NOOD Regatta in St. Petersburg, Fla., wild weather conditions proved a challenge for the record 195 boats competing. Gusting 15-17 knot northerly wind combined with a sharp dip in temperature – where the high temp registered a mere 40 degrees – and created an unusual test for competitors who traveled to the west coast of Florida despite the snow storms that crippled the nation’s travelers earlier this week.

The 2006 overall NOOD Regatta champion, John Storck (Huntington, N.Y.) and his J/80 Rumor lead their 9-boat class. Son Erik, a senior who sails at Dartmouth College, drives the boat while the elder Storck trims the jib. Along with Dave Waldo and Stanford University Sailing Team coach Jay Kehoe onboard, Rumor posted a 6-1-1 to lead. “In the first race we were trying to get everything set because we didn’t practice as much as we wanted to,” said Erik Storck. “In the first race we had a couple of problems and made a few bad decisions at the mark roundings. After that we decided to be a bit more conservative at the start in the second race. We were able to hold our competition out at the start and hang on to our lead the entire way. The wind was really up and down all day. We changed our rig before every race. My father is very much a student of the game and he is in charge of the rig settings.” Walter Caldwell (Clear Lake Shores, Texas) and his Le Cluster is in second place with 10 points, while Emotional Rescue, one of three J World Annapolis racing teams here this week, is in third with 11 points.

In addition to the J/80 class, on Course C the Corsair 28R and Corsair 24 classes competed. Bert Rice (Gulf Breeze, Fla.) swept all three races, finishing the day aboard his Mark Twain with three points. The rest of the class had trouble keeping their boasts in control and many did not compete in the second and third races. Overall, Kurt Gregory (St. Petersburg) is in second place with 13 points, while Patrick Nugent (Palm Harbor, Fla.) is in third with 18 points.

The Ultimate 20 class is led by Brad Boston (Point Edward, Ontario, CAN), who also swept all three races. Boston and his team on Honour have a significant 9-point lead on their closest competition, Van Sheppard (Kanata, Ontario, CAN) on Wizz, with 12 points, and Mark Dobie (Hayward, Wis.) with 13, in third place.

Although it might seem that the larger the number of boats competing the harder it is to win a race, let alone win all three races. That theory was crushed today by Great Britain’s John Pollard, who leads the 44-boat class with three wins and a total score of three points. The closest competition seemed to be in the top eight boats, but local sailor Doug Fisher (Sarasota) counted a 6th and 9th separated by an unfortunate OCS (on course side or over the starting line early) to stand in 21st place.

Racing continues tomorrow, February 17 and concludes on Sunday, the 18th. For more information including photos, full results and daily reports from Sailing World Senior Editor Stuart Streulli, go to www.sailingworld.com.